Blog Moving!!!

Hi Guys,

My blog has moved over to http://www.jenkwok.net – you can also view it directly at http://jenkwok.net/blog

<3 Jen

New Music Video – DATE AN ASIAN

My new music video, Date an Asian, is a hot (and hilarious) R&B joint about dating Asian men.

Here it is:

After fun ass day of shooting and a star studded live premiere at Sulu Series, this video is ready for all the world to see!!!

We hope that you enjoy it, and please please please help promote it!!!

HELP PROMOTE DATE AN ASIAN:
1. Email this vid to all your peeps, groups and listservs:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG9vYZmoqmg
2. Post the video link to facebook, Twitter, MySpace, tumblr, blogs, etc!
3. Embed the video wherever you can!
4. “Favorite”, share, leave comments, “thumb up” on YouTube!
5. Stream the video on a laptop strapped to your chest!

Asian men are finally gettin’ their due, so please spread the love!!!

http://www.dateanasian.net (designed by the lovely Donna Kwok).

Thank you to everyone who helped make this video happen!

<3
Jen

A Horribly Productive/Destructive Weekend!

My dear Tommy went back home to Staten Island for the weekend, and I was left to my own devices.

Friday Night:
Stayed home to nurse the contrails of my never-ending flu from last weekend.  I ended up drinking about six servings of miso soup, while watching the following:  five hours of Bravo (split between Real Housewives of Atlanta and Las Vegas Taxi Cab Confessions), an episode of Amazing Wedding Cakes, an episode of Bridezillas, Gwyneth Paltrow’s View from the Top, and a horrible Lifetime movie about a Mormon love quadrilateral starring Jennie Garth called A Loss of Innocence.

Oh Jenny....

So basically, I drank two gallons of salt water and had estrogen pumped through the television, into my eyeballs.  It was horrible.  I might as well have cut myself or eaten a quart of Rocky Road Ice Cream while dressing up my Barbie doll collection.  I literally watched TV for 9 hours.  It started at 7pm and lasted until 4am.  WHAT KIND OF FREAK AM I?!?!

Saturday:
Went to brunch with Adina in the East Village, wandered around Urban Outfitters, and picked up my books on reserve from Greenpoint Library.  And you know what?  It turns out there’s another Jennifer Kwok who goes to my branch!  I know this because I certainly did not order a Japanese manga written in Japanese with no pictures in it (seriously, what is that? )!  Then I went home and started reading my actual somehow-in-my-mind-less-dorkier book choice, The Golden Compass.  Then, realizing that I probably shouldn’t have ANY more miso for the rest of my life because I had consumed about 12,000 grams of sodium the night before, I decided to order in a Papacitos fish burrito.

FISH!!!

I ate this while watching Kubrick’s Lolita and marveling at the great acting – Peter Sellers rocks it in this movie (and James Mason and Shelly Winters are no schlubs either). After the movie, I fulfilled my weeklong craving for Haagen Daaz and bought a pint of Bailey’s flavored ice cream at my local pseudo-gourmet grocery market.  I went to bed EARLY – like 9pm, after Friday night’s fiasco.

Sunday:
Woke up relatively early after 12 hours’ sleep and started going through emails.  I grabbed a shower, ran some errands at Rite Aid (where they already have Halloween stuff up, BTW – horrifying!!!!) and bought a couple donuts and coffee from Peter Pan’s, which is now infamous for its Donut Ice Cream Sandwiches.  Got back home and edited/practiced my verse for “Trapped in a Dungeon”, a guest-rap-laden song by my buddy Soce, The Elemental Wizard.  Then I wrote and practiced my rap verse of a song we’re doing together, “Ride the Bus”, which will be released as a B-side to my single (also produced by and featuring Soce), “Date an Asian”.

After all that musical mayhem, I made some No Pudge Brownies and cleaned the house before my Tommy came home (it’s all the Mad Men watching that’s got me acting like robo-live-in-girlfriend).

No effing PUDGE - that's what I said!

Actually, the brownies were for my former boss, who is letting us stay at her house during our vacation, and Soce, who is hard at work producing all these awesome tracks!  I headed over to Manhattan (going from the G to the 7 because there is no service to Manhattan from 23-Ely Ave for the fourth weekend in a row) and met with my former boss to grab keys, directions, etc.  Then I headed downtown to record my rhymes with Soce.

Continuing with the self abuse, I came home not having eaten any dinner – BUT buying a goddamn Van Leeuwen ice cream while waiting for the bus on Bedford Ave.  WHY?!?!?!?!  Ugh, that ice cream is so good it’s hard for me to eat other ice cream now….  It didn’t melt once while I was waiting 15 minutes for that bus – not a square millimeter of it.  It’s perfect!!!!

Stupid Van Leeuwen, you hurt so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, I got home and found my dear Tommy there, uploading a ton of pictures of his weekend at home, along with adorable 10 second videos of his dog running around and drinking water – videos that, BTW, would probably get more YouTube hits than all my videos combined!

It was nice to be kind of left alone this weekend, but between the miso/ice cream diet and 9-hour lady film festival, I really don’t think I’d last very long.  However, it was superfun to indulge, and I was glad to channel my inner rap star and try a new outlet for my creativity.

And now, for whatever reason, I can’t seem to go to bed just yet.  But…a girl has to try.

Good night!

Date an Asian – AWESOMENESS Recapped!

The “Date an Asian” music video premiere last night at Sulu Series was AWESOME!!!

The evening started off with amazing spoken word/poetry from Jenny C. Lares, Simone Jacobson and special guest Marco Mercado.

Marco Mercado

Supercool band Paperdoll also rocked the house with some original songs – and a fantastic cover of A-Ha!

We rolled into the music video premiere, which elicited a lot of positive responses – from laughter to “awws” to people genuinely being touched by the tribute to Asian guys, it was amazing to see such great reactions to a project that has been in the works for almost a year.

After the video premiered, we had had a bunch of great performances from the guys of “Date an Asian”, who are some of NY’s top Asian male performers:

YouJean Chang got the crowd going with his hilarious, racially charged humor.

Air Tabigue did a bunch of amazing new material after literally hopping off a plane from Vegas to make the show – what a guy!

Air Tabigue

Comedy improv group Asian Flush also had its world premiere last night!  The all-Asian, all-dude group consists of:  Joel Arandia, Keith Huang, Roy Koshy, Binu Paulose, Nikhil Rao, and Jamaal Sedayao.

Narinder Singh kept the crowd going with his cunning one-liners, which I dubbed “non-Sikh-uiturs”, teehee!

Narinder Singh

Phil Nee, the Godfather of Asian Comedy (who plays my dad in the video!), totally lived up to his name and  annihilated the crowd with his set.

Finally, The Part-Time Models dance crew brought down the house for the grand finale!!!

All in all, it was such a great night, and I want to thank everyone again for making “Date an Asian” possible.  The song and music video were a TON of fun to make, and it’s such a damn thrill to finally have it out in the world!

Moi

Also, a massive shoutout to the Sulu and Bowery Poetry Club crew:  mucho thanks to Taiyo Na for giving a home to Asian American artists – Sulu Series coming up on 5 years!!!  Thank you to DJ Boo for manning the turntables, Nick for teching up a storm, and the lovely Diane O’Debra for keeping us well hydrated.

Look for the video in the coming days, very soon!!!

AND, if you have a hankering for a LIVE performance of “Date an Asian” with myself and Soce, come to K-Date on Thurs, 8/20 at Comix!  Click on “Shows” for full details about this hit Asian matchmaking show!!!

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DATE AN ASIAN PREMIERE AUGUST 16 AT BOWERY POETRY CLUB!!!

Date an Asian will be rockin’ the Sulu Series with live performances from several of the Asian hotties featured in the video, culminating in the premiere of the music video on a rather large screen!

DATE AN ASIAN PREMIERE!!!
Sun, Aug 16 at 8pm
Sulu Series
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery Street (Between Houston and Bleecker)
$8/$5 w/ student ID
http://myspace.com/suluser ies

Live premiere of the “Date an Asian” music video by Jen Kwok, featuring Soce The Elemental Wizard and directed by Ballard Boyd.

Featuring stand-up performances from: Narinder Singh, Eugene Chang, Tommy Hudson and Phil Nee. Featuring improv from Keith Huang, Jamaal Sedayao, Binu Paulose, Joel Arandia and Roy Koshy. Plus dance crew Part-Time Models!

Sulu Series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! It’s tha la bomba.

Yo, Jen and Soce be spittin’ mad…stuff…about doin’ Asian guys…which is not weird at all…or at least it won’t be, after this video comes out!!!!

Part-Time Models are fan-fricking-tastic!

This is Fred Chao. Do you know him? No? Well, you’ll want to now….

…
Also, for those of you who are interested (AND SINGLE!!!), Soce and I are performing Date an Asian live at Comix next Thursday night at a HAWT Asian dating/comedy show:

Single Asians, come meet your match!!! Or just get hammered and laugh your ass off.

K-DATE COMIX
Thurs, Aug 20 at 9:30pm
Comix
353 W 14th St (at 9th Ave)
$15 online, $20 at the door
www.comixny.com

The one and only matchmaking comedy show! Comics perform, then pair up members of the audience! Hosted by funny and fabulously talented comedian Helen Hong! The hit show regularly sells out the 120+ seat Comix main stage, and was just featured in The New York Times.

Photos by Keith Huang
Sulu Flyer by DJ Boo

Eat, Pray, Love and Other Cool Projects!

As some of you know, I just wrapped my first feature film!!!  I had a small (but principal!) role singing and playing ukulele in the movie Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts and James Franco.  This is the movie based on the smash hit book by Elizabeth Gilbert that was #1 for, like, 3 years.  More news when it hits theaters in 2011!

Also exciting news – drawing on my classical piano training (through college, in case you ain’t know!), I will begin shooting the short film “Diminished Chords” this week.  I’ll be in a principal role as a high school piano student who teaches a hearing impaired student to sing.  Awwwwww….

Finally, in the realm of theatre, I’ll be in a lead role in Big Girl’s Club, a superfun/sadistic play written and directed Leah Winkler of Everywhere Theatre Group.  It’s being presented at Here Arts Center as part of its Autumn Artist Lodge series.

Anyway, so much stuff!!!!!!!!  I think it’s safe to say that I’m offficially back from my “break” with these projects, my upcoming full length show (August 8 at Jalopy!) and the premiere of my music video, “Date an Asian” (August 16 at Bowery Poetry Club!)!

Please keep checking back for more updates and the “Shows” section for my performance schedule.

<3 Jen

How Much I Love This Soce Guy!

Many of you must know that one of my most frequent collaborators and best buds in music/comedy is this dude, Soce, The Elemental Wizard.

Soce is a gay Jewish MC who straddles the music and comedy worlds, and produced and raps on my song, Date an Asian.  Not only does he perform a billion nights per week, but this dude also holds down a 9-to-5 and contributes to several reputable industry blogs, including The Apiary and City Scoops.  Seriously, how does he do it?!

Because this guy is excellent for so very many reasons!!!  I was just at the CD release party for his third album, which completely solidified what an original performer he is.  Not only is he so creative, but he’s also got tons and tons of energy to spare – plus he’s really one of the nicest guys ever (who else brings Odwalla carrot juice to a party?!)!  He’s been such a good friend throughout my journey in NY comedy, and has pep talked me out of many corners with his wisdom and positive outlook.

At any rate, I hope that you guys will check him out – here’s his latest music video, “They Call Me” and his new CD, Master of Fine Arts, is available for purchase online:

Full Length Show at Jalopy!!!

Hi All,

I’m so stoked about the show I have coming up on Saturday, August 8!

It will be an awesome night of music and comedy from three amazing ladies.

Join us in Red Hook for an old time-y time!

I’ll be performing mostly new material with a full band (Marco Bucelli on drums, Matt Buttermann on guitar and Some Other Dude on bass)!  It’ll be some comedic, some not, but mostly uke!  Also appearing are two of my friends/favorite female performers:

Tinkerbel Tompsin is the alter ego of my friend Leigh Ann Cobb.  She has a Mississippi-bred blues sound, “From the land of Molasses, Elvis, and all things hot and sultry in between there and NYC.”

Opening and perfoming between sets is the hilarious Leslie Goshko, Monologue Slam Champion and host of Sideshow Goshko!  She does awesome sketch/stand-up/character stuff that will blow your mind!!!

Jalopy is an amazing venue with an old time-y vibe that offers music lessons (go ukulele!) and live performances in it’s gorgeous performance space.   It’s one of the best venues in Brooklyn, and will certainly be worth the trek!

“Date an Asian” Video Shoot This Past Weekend!

The music video for my song, “Date an Asian”, was shot this weekend, July 11 in Greenpoint, BK!

Myself, Ballard Boyd (Director) and Soce The Elemental Wizard (Song Producer/Rapper)

It took place at Coco66 with a cast and crew of 40+ people!

Coco66 was invaded by a bunch of Asian dudes!!!

This was my first time producing a project on this scale, and it far exceeded all my expectations!  Lights!  Breakdancers from Part-Time Models!  Lip syncing to a 2x Chipmunks recording!!!

Soce with the Part-Time Models!

Me & my girls!!!

Thank you to everyone who made it happen!  The video will be coming out very soon, with a screening/premiere/party at Sulu Series.

Special thanks to Jason Li for these photos.

I just watched 3 hours of stand-up comedy. I mean, male stand-up comedy.

I went through and taped a whole bunch of Comey Central stand-up specials, as I do from time to time.  De temps en temps. I JUST realized that they were all dudes.  EVERY single one of ‘em.  This is going back about ten years work of shows:  Kevin Nealon, Hugh Fink, Jamie Kennedy, Pete Correale, Daniel Tosh, Mike Birbiglia, Leo Allen.  The only female stand-up special I’ve watched in months is Wanda Sykes (who, btw, is getting her own late night talk show this fall).

Dear Jesus, I am not really one to complain and I’m definitely not a feminist, but this is really wack!!!  (Should I also now mention that they were all WHITE guys too?) Do I come off kind of angry?  Maybe it’s just because I’m surprised – surprised that I’m so used to it that I didn’t even realize it was a sausage-fest until three hours later!

If I had to guess – TOTALLY guess, I’d say that of comedy shown on Comedy Central, the breakdown is this:  90% guys, 10% women

Ethnically?  95% white, 3% black, 1%  hispanic and 1% “everyone else” (asian, native american,  etc.)

When I’m around the New York stand-up comedy scene, this is what I thiiiink – TOTAL guess – I see:  70% guys, 30% girls

Ethnically:  85% white, 7% black, 5% hispanic, 3% “everyone else” (asian, native american, etc.)

I’m sure this is huuuuge progress compared to the past, when I’m sure the distribution was even more fucked up.  But sadly, the gender numbers are still only slightly little better than they are in, say, jazz.  Or landscaping.

No doubt that others and myself are going against the grain simply by doing comedy while being who we happened to be born.  A close friend in comedy once told me – somewhat annoyed – that I have it easier being an Asian girl and NOT “just another” white guy.  Well, maybe in some ways, like getting on an all-Asian show or an all-female show (there’s yet to be an all-Asian girl show, although it could happen if literally all five of us decided to do it).

Yeah, I stick out, but as far as making it easier?  This is far from an affirmative action industry. Or maybe it is, judging by the time I was UNbooked from a show because there was another Asian female comic on it, and we were “too similar”.  WOW, I totally get that because having a bunch of similar comedians together has NEVER been a success.  Please see:  this, this and this.  And I’d like to meet a male comedian who has been unbooked from a show because there was another Jewish comic who was “too similar” to him.

And if you look at the end product – if you flip on the television as I did, it’s very evident that the glass ceiling still remains.  Let’s see how long it takes to smash through.

Maybe in 10 years I will watch Comedy Central and be happy if I see:

60% men, 40% women

80% white, 10% black, 5%  hispanic and 5% “everyone else” (asian, native american,  etc.)

Or maybe I’ll still be disappointed.